Super Spikers on fire

MANILA, Philippines — For Cignal ace Vanie Gandler, the best approach to achieve their goal of making the four-team qualifying round and then securing an automatic semifinal seat in the PVL All-Filipino Conference is to play with a sense of urgancy in each game.

Gandler and her teammates battled with a large amount of that yesterday – all business in a 25-18, 25-23, 25-22 win over the ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles yesterday at the Filoil Arena that solidified their position in the top four.

“We know no one is safe even though we started the conference strong,” said the power-hitting Alas Pilipinas standout, who dropped a match-high 20-point performance with 18 on kills.

“Now isn’t the time for us to relax so every practice, we’re doing our best to stay aggressive and improve from our mistakes,” she added.

They were crippled by errors after errors in absorbing a heartbreaking five-set defeat to Akari a week ago.

But Cignal is back on its feet and closer to advancing to the qualifying round where the two winners get to punch outright semis tickets and avoid the complications of playing the rigorous stepladder play-in phase among the lower-ranked eight squads.

“That’s our goal before the start of the game,” said Cignal coach Shaq delos Santos. “Although our preparation was shaky, we did good and I’m proud of my team.”

Roselyn Doria-Aquino came through with 11 points, while Erika Santos and Jacqueline Acuna contributed nine and eight hits, respectively.

ZUS dropped to 1-6.